There’s a lot to be said for life at the top of the
Formula One heap. There’re the fans, the fame,
and the fortunes to be made from the prize fund.
And, as Red Bull discovered in the current round
of Concorde Agreement negotiations, back-to-
back championships can come with a few extra
sweeteners.
Of course, every silver lining has a cloud. And when
it comes to success, the higher you climb, the further
there is to fall.
While Red Bull are hardly at the point of duelling with
HRT at the back of the pack – Sebastian Vettel’s collision
with Narain Karthikeyan notwithstanding – there is little
doubt that the end of the Milton Keynes-based team’s
era of domination has hit the racers where it hurts – in
the ego.
Last year, Red Bull were out-and-out dominant.
Their car was faster on every track, and dominated 18
of 19 Saturdays in 2011. But their Saturday strength
did not come about at the cost of performance on a
Sunday.
When it counted, Vettel was able to command
the field from the front, pulling out approximately
a second a lap until the young German was taking
the chequered flag just as the back of the field was
crossing the line at the end of their first lap. Or so it
felt at the time.
Early in 2012, however, the story is a little different.
The RB8 is competitive, but it is not dominant. And
the end of that era has led to something of a crisis of
confidence in Red Bull, one that is visible on the faces
of everyone barring Mark Webber, who appears to
thrive in moments of adversity.
Speaking to his employers the BBC after the
Malaysian Grand Prix, technical analyst Gary Anderson
pointed out what the whole paddock had been
thinking – “all the way through the team, [Red Bull]
are clearly not coping well with no longer being at the
front.”
The team feel unfairly victimised by the FIA, as
two of the most serious rule changes to come into
play over the winter specifically outlawed technology
pioneered and mastered by Red Bull: the exhaust
blown diffuser and the mind-bogglingly flexible front
wing.
But where in the past the team have been able
to rewrite the rule book, turning disadvantage into
advantage with a revolutionary new take on F1
technology, so far this year Red Bull are missing the
magic bullet. Until they find it, expect the fun-loving
racers to look a little more serious.
RED BULL
–
FEELING THE
PRESSURE?
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